Marble game



Aug. 5, 1930. T. s. HUTCHlS ON MARBLE GAME Filed April 12, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /NVENTO, THO/1A5 5. HUTCH/SON 5y Maw ATTQQA/EY Aug. 5, 1930. T'. s. HUTCHISON MARBLE GAME Filed April l2 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 //v l/E/V TOE. THOMAS 5H0 TCHISON, 5 WMM a; m

A TT ORNEY.

?atented Aug. 5,, 1930' Application My' inventio'" consists of an F ving a first alleydown which halls may beshot-by'hand, 1*

employed byboys'inj fend. wal l 16 adja'centthe player, and with a 55 Wall 17 at the other end of the board, to act game board '1' marbles one in the manner usually provided wi h a supply of small spherical counters, one"v of which is projected towards the player; al'ong the second alley, each time the knob is struck by one of the marbles shot by the player. In addition I provide a means for automatically indicating the'score of the player, resulting from'the counters projected towards him during the play, if this feature is of'the game is desiredto be" used.

My invention willf'best' be understood by reference to the; accompanying drawings showing a preferredembodiment thereof in which 1 I 2e Fig. 1 shows my game board-in plain view Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view 0' scale of a part of the construction shown in p Fig. 1 taken along the line 6-6, and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view to an enlarged scale of" a part of the construction shown in Fi 1 taken along the line 7-7.

4 throughout the several views.

scoring the different plays.

playing marbles, at a knob at the end'of'the alley, in combination with a second alley imilar numerals refer to similar parts 'rA-IE T fOiFFlCE imigo, rumors I are projected in The alley 14'is preferably somewhat wider than the alley 1'5.)v The "board 10' is also provided with an on'el alongwhich' the counters as-a stop, for marbles or spheres shot down the alley 14 and to serve as the corresponding end of the alley 15. The wall 17 is preferably higher than the walls 11, 12 and 16 to stop all of the marbles or spheres shot down the alley 14. The game board is'provided-with an end wall 18 substantially parallel with the Wall 17 and of. substantially the same size, between which and the wall 17 the operating mechanism' of the game board is contained. The compartment between the walls 17 and 18 is enclosed by a cover board 19. I

In the compartment between the walls 17 and 18, a lever 20 is pivotally supported at its mid portion 21, by brackets 22 secured to the wall 17. One end of the lever 20 carries a knob 23 which projects through a clearance aperture therefore in the the wall 17 so that it may be struck by marbles or spheres shot down the alley 14 towards it. The other and of the lever 20 carries an ejecting memher 24 in a clearance opening therefore in the wall 17, which ejecting member is normally held back of the outer surface of the wall 17 by a spring 25 secured to the lever 20 and resting against the wall 17. i

The runway 13 is for the convenience of the layer in handling the spherical counters 26 so that they may be in position to be operated upon by the ejecting member 24. To insure that the counters projected towards the player in the alley 15 will roll to the players end) of said alley, the rear end of the game board is provided with feet 27, which elevate said rear end suiliciently to secure this result. The runway 13 is grooved along its upper edge to retain the counters thereon and is. sufliciently lower at its end away from the player than it is at the players end of the game board, so that the counters will roll down the runway 13 away from the player at the same time that the bottom of the game board is inclined towards the player as described. The runway 13 discharges the counters upon a transverse runway 28 extending across the end of the alley 15 away from the player, so that the counters roll down the runway 28 one after another into alignment with the ejecting member 24. As indicated in Fig. 3, the upper end of the runway 28 is suiticiently below the adjacent end of the runway 13 so that the counters will not clog at the upper end of the runway 28. To further prevent this clogging of the counters, a block 29 is preferably inserted in the angle between the wall 17 and a baflie board 30 secured to the side of the runway 13 at its lower end, to prevent the marbles or spheres that are shot, from rebounding into the alley 15. To insure free delivery of the lowermost one of-the counters 26, I find it desirable to place a thin plate 31 of any suitable material on the inner surface of the side wall 12 at the lower end of the runway 28.

As a result of the construction described, when a marble or sphere 32 is shot t alley 14 by a player, which may con be in the manner in which marbles are usually played by boys, and the target knob 23 is hit by the marble or sphere thus shot, the ejecting member 24 exerts a quick thrust on the lowermost one of the counters 26, projecting it along the alley 15 towards the player. One or more of the shooting marbles or spheres 32 may be employed as preferred, and as many of the counting spheres 26 may be employed as desired.

To facilitate the use of the game board in one particular manner of counting, a score tray 33, preferably of thin sheet metal may be located in the players end of the alley 15, in a manner so that it may be readily removed therefrom if that particular system of scoring is at any time not desired. The counting tray 33 consists of an inclined surface 3% resting upon the surface of the alley 15, at its edge away from the player, for raising the counters 26 and delivering them to the shallow depressions 35, 36, 37 and 38,

and the score of the player may be determined by the particular ones of these depressions in which the counters finally come to rest. The

values of the several. depressions in scoring the plays, may be of any arbitrary value, for example 5, 10, 15 and 20 points, which values may be marked on the member 34:, as indicated, to facilitate keeping the score. The several depressions 35, 36, 37 and 38 pref crably extend longitudinally of the alley 15 a sufficient distance so that each will acconr modate a plurality of the counters 26. The detail construction of the counter tray will be understood by reference to Figs. 6 and T.

The construction and relation of the lever 20 and the parts associated therewith is clearly indicated in Fig. 4, and as indicated in Fig. 5, the knob 23 is preferably disposed a sufficient distance above the bottom board 10, so that any marble or sphere 32 shot down the board towards the knob 23, will not enas well as a convenieut'and interesting scor ing system involving more or less chance as to which of the scoring depressions the counters will finally lodge in. It is obvious that the rules of play of the game may be of many kinds, depending upon the preference of the players, both as to the number of marbles or spheres shot by each player, and. the manner in which the hits are scored, and if desired, the manner in which the misses are penalized.

While I have shown my invention in the particular embodiment above described, it will be understood that I do not limit my self to this exact construction as I may eniploy equivalents known to the art at the time of the filing of this application without de- I claims.

lVhat I claim is: 1. A marble game, comprising the comparting from the scope of the appended bination of a bottom board, side and end alley and a scoring alley, a knob projectingloosely through the back wall of said playing alley, a lever pivotally supported on said alley back wall and carrying said knob on one of its end portions, a spring tending to hold said knob in its forward position, a second counter runway across the back end of the scoring alley from the lower end of said first runway, and an ejecting member carried by the other end portion of said lever and extending loosely through the back. wall of said scoring alley in line with the lower end of said second runway.

2. A marble game, comprising the combination of a bottom board, side and end walls extending upwardly from said board, feet on said bottom board elevating its back end, a first counter runway having a grooved upper surface inclined towards the back end of the bottom board and dividing the upper surface of said bottom board into a playing alley and a scoring alley, a knob projecting loosely through the back wall of said playing alley. a lever pivotally supported on said alloy back wall and carrying said knob n one of its end portions, :1 spring tending to "hold said knob in its forward position, a sec ing alley,

ond counter runway across the back end of the scoring alley from the lower end of said first runway,-an ejecting member carried by the other end portion of said lever and ex tending loosely through the backwall of said scoring alley in line with the lower end of said second runway, and a scoring device in said scoring alley and having an inclined and elevating surface and a plurality of depressions for receiving spherical counters.

3. A marble game, comprising the combination of a bottom board, side and end. walls extending upwardly from said board, feet on said bottom board elevating its back end a first counter runway having a grooved upper surface inclined towards the back end of the bottom board and dividing the upper surface of said bottom board into a playing alley and a scoring alley, a knob projecting loosely through the back wall of said playing alley, a lever pivotally supported .on said alley back wall and carrying said knob on one of its end portions, a spring tending to hold said knob in its forward position, a second counter runway across the back end of the scoring alley from the lower end of said first runway, an ejecting member carried by the other end ortion of said lever and extending loosely t rough the back wall of said scoring alley in line with the lower end of said second runway, and end and top walls enclosing said lever.

4. A marble game, comprisin the com bination of a bottom board, si e and end walls extending upwardly from said board, feet on said bottom board elevating its back end, a first counter runway having a grooved upper surface inclined towards the back end o the bottom board and dividing the upper surface of said bottom board into a playing alley and a scoring alley, a knob pro'ecting loosely through the back wall of sai playa lever pivotally supported on said alley back wall and carrying said knob on one of its end portions, a spring tending to hold said knob in its forward position, a second counter runway across the back end of the scoring alley from the lower end of said first runwayfan ejecting member carried by the other end portion of said lever and extending loosel through the back wall of said scoring al ey in line with. the lower end of said second runway, and a bafile board between and at the back end of said alleys and adjacent said first runway.

5. A marble game, comprisin the combination of a bottom board, si e and end walls extending upwardl from said board, feet on said bottom boar elevating its back end, a first counter runway having a grooved upper surface inclined towards the back end of the bottom board and dividing the upper surface of said bottom board into a playing alley and a scoring alley, a knob projecting loosely through the back wall of said playing alley, a lever pivotally supported on said alley back wall and carrying said knob' on one of its end portions, a spring tending. to hold said knob in its forward position, a second counter runway across the back end of the scoring alley from the lowerend 'of said first runway, and an ejecting member carried by the other end portion of said lever and extending loosely through the back wall of said scoring alley in line with the lower end of said second runway, said knob being a greater distance above said bottom board than the diameter of spheres used to operate said knob.

6. In a marble game, the combination of a playing alley, a target knob therein, a scoring alley in substantially the same plane as said playing alley, a counter ejecting device therein, and an operating member connecting said target knob and said ejecting device to move said ejecting device forwardly by backward motion of said target knob, said target knob being a greater distance above the playing alley than the diameter of spheres used to operate said knob.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 4th day of Apfil, A. D. 1929. I

. THOMAS S. UTOHISON. 

